What I've been reading

1. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. It's derivative in its set-up, but still it has a splendid plot. If you're looking to explore the new trend of adults reading works for "young adults," this is a good place to start. The bottom line: I've just ordered volumes two and three, not just volume two.
2. W.G. Sebald, On the Natural History of Destruction. Pitch perfect throughout, you can add Sebald to the list of authors with first-rate contributions to both fiction and non-fiction.
3. John W. Dower, Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor/Hiroshima/9-11. Combines public choice and behavioral economics approaches to foreign policy, all through the lens of the events mentioned in the subtitle. Consistently interesting, and it shows how the intelligence failures leading up to the second Iraq War had many precedents. Dower is the same guy who wrote the splendid books on the Pacific War and Japanese postwar recovery; I recommend his work more generally.
4. Tom Segev, Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends. Many books on the Holocaust tread on well-tilled ground, but this was original and compelling throughout. Here is a useful review, although I think it considerably exaggerates how critical the book is of Wiesenthal.
5. Michael Whinston, Lectures on Antitrust Economics. A very good introduction to current thinking on antitrust policy, through the lens of theory and empirics.

Related

HONOLULU — A small paper crane folded by a 12-year-old girl who died of leukemia after the U.S. dropped an atom bomb on her hometown of Hiroshima will go on display in Pearl Harbor, where the 1941 Japanese attack launched the two nations into war.
Sadako Sasaki’s family donated the origami crane to promote peace and overcome the tragedies of the past.

MATSUE, Japan – Before Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Emperor Hirohito criticized plans to go to war with the United States as “self-destructive,” and opposed an alliance with Nazi Germany, though he did little to try to stop the war that Japan waged in his name, according to the long-awaited official history of his reign released Tuesday.

The U.S. Naval War College released a trove of Second World War information Monday by posting online the operational diary kept by the Pacific commander, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, during the war against Japan.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — About 2,500 people gathered at Pearl Harbor on Saturday to remember those killed in the 1941 Japanese attack that launched the U.S. into World War II.
The crowd observed a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the minute the bombing began 72 years ago.
A vintage World War II-era airplane — a 1944 North American SNJ-5B — flew overhead to break the silence. The Hawaii Air National Guard has used its fighter jets and helicopters to perform the flyover for many years, but federal budget cuts prevented it from participating this year.

Ryan T. asks:
I’d be curious to see Tyler’s “completist” list. In other words, authors whose entire body of work merits reading. If this does get a response, I’m most interested in seeing the list begin with literature.

December 7, 1941 began as a perfect Sunday morning for the troops serving the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor. Under a early morning South Pacific sun, softball teams were lining up on the beach. Pitchers warmed up their arms, while batting rosters were finalized and the wives and kids came over from seaside church services.